Hogwartian Nights
by NineteenTwentyone
Summary: Alternate title- Harry's Bedtime Stories A group of bedtime stories told to Harry by his parents and their friends. Some based on pre-existing fairy tails. Can be read together or separately. Supposed to be relatively humorous. I'll let you be the judge of that.
1. The Doe Princess

**A/N - So I have decided to write a group of bedtime stories told to Harry by his parents and their friends. Each will be written in a different way, this is the first. I'm not sure how many I'm going to do at the moment. I'm also deliberating whether to have them as chapters or as stories themselves. Currently I'm swaying towards the former (any opinions, or do you readers really not care?)**

**This first story is loosely based on the cartoon version of the story "The Swan Princess".**

**Disclaimer – I don't own the characters or anything you might recognise. I loosely own the plot. **

The Doe Princess

Once upon a time there lived a girl named Lily who was not like ordinary girls.  
When the other little girls were playing house with their dolls, Lily was playing warrior outside with a stick.

When the other girls gasped over the latest dress pattern and entertained each other with the intrigues and gossip of the court, Lily escaped that to join in imaginary battles with the city boys.

When the other teenage girls stayed inside learning the etiquette and mannerisms of being a young lady, Lily was sneaking out to climb trees and observe the wildlife around the castle.

When the other young ladies paraded around court in the hopes of finding a rich husband, Lily was in the library, lost in a book about intriguing adventures in far-off lands.

But the thing that set Lily apart from all the other girls was her family. Lily was, in fact, a princess of the kingdom of Moldu. Now for many years the kingdom of Moldu had been on less than friendly terms with its neighbouring kingdom, Magicien, and so it was decided that an alliance should be sought in the form of a marriage.

Lily had an older sister, two years her senior, who embodied all aspects a princess should possess: she was punctual, prim, polite and proper, always perfectly presented. However there was one quality a good princess should possess in which she was seriously lacking. Petunia was in no way pleasant. In fact it wouldn't be going too far to say she was downright unpleasant, spiteful and more than a little mean at times. That was not to say she was a bad person, she was fiercely loyal and loved her younger sister as no-one else could, however there was an underlying nastiness one couldn't help but notice and a disregard for any of a lower class than she.

Lily, on the other hand was everything a princess should not be: clumsy, careless, crude, confrontational, and, on occasion, rather un-courteous. However if there was one thing Lily was, it was caring.

The neighbouring county of Magicien had only one heir, Prince James, and it was to him that one of the girls was to be betrothed.

The two girls were taken to visit Prince James, or he them, every two years after the decision to unite the two countries was made. The arrangement had not pleased the three young children in the slightest. Petunia usually spent such visits in the company of the women of the court, feeling it beneath her dignity to play with children two years her junior. Prince James and Princess Lily were usually forced together in the hope that they would become friends and eventually develop feelings for each other.

_The pair first met each other age five, when Prince James came to the kingdom of Moldu. Both children had been too shy to talk to each other and so had sat in terrified silence. _

"I am not sure what to do." The Queen of Moldu had confided to the Queen of Magicien.

"I understand. It is not as if we can force them to talk to each other." the Queen had replied.

"I am sure that if we give them time, all will be well."

_At age seven, when Lily and her sister visited Magicien, the rulers of both kingdoms were gladdened to see that their children were now able to speak in the company of each other. It was simply unfortunate that they only seemed to do so when arguing. Lily was perfectly happy to join in games with James and his friends, however they were not so happy to have a girl join their company of valiant knights, and told her so._

"Can I play?" a voice called from the bottom of the tree where the boys' fort was situated. James and his three friends peered over the side of the large tree house to see a girl with long red pigtails, a scattering of freckles and a large smudge of mud over one cheek looking up at them just as interestedly.

"No," James called down nastily. "Only boys are allowed up here."

"Who's that?" one of James' friends, Sirius, asked.

"No one." He replied, looking down at the girl in distaste. "Just a girl from Moldu who I have to see every two years. I think my parents want me to marry her." Whilst Sirius laughed at James, the other boy, Remus, watched the little girl sit down at the base of the tree with a book and ignore the boys above her.

"She looks upset." He commented to James, moving out of the way as he and Sirius rolled around on the floor, trying to beat each other up.

"I don't care." James replied. "Maybe she'll go away and I won't have to go see her next year."

_At age nine Lily point blankly refused to come out of the library and see James, instead hiding under one of the many tables with a book and a satisfied smile on her face. _

"Lily!" her mother scolded. "You are being positively childish! This is no way for a princess to behave."

"Well maybe I don't want to be a princess!" Lily had shouted back.

"You will wear this and come down to dinner, where you will be polite and courteous to Prince James, or else."

Lily eyed the blue velvet dress with distaste. "I hate wearing dresses." She said petulantly.

"Well it's high time you start young lady." Her mother had replied, wishing (not for the first time) that her daughter could be a little more like her elder sister. "You are getting far too old to be wearing boy's clothes. It is unseemly."

After this incident, Lily, pinning down all her problems to Prince James, had hated the boy even more.

_At age eleven petunia quite frankly refused to continue these trips and so Lily was accompanied by an entourage of maids but no family, and spent the majority of the time crying. Prince James, not quite knowing what to do with a crying girl, avoided her as much as possible. _

"Remus…what do you do to stop a girl from crying?" Remus was by far the cleverest boy his age that James knew, and he was sure Remus would know what to do.

"Well," Remus considered "when my father has upset my mother he gives her flowers. Maybe you should give Lily flowers?"

James thought this to be a very good idea, and so went out to the Palace gardens to pick her a flower.

"Hello Hagrid." He said, upon meeting the head gardener of the Palace. "Do you know what lilies look like?"

"O' course I do." Hagrid replied, smiling down at the young prince. "Would yeh like me ter show you where they are?

"Yes please."

James had found the prettiest lily of them all and put it outside Princess Lily's door. Lily had seen the flower, and that night had come out of her room to eat with the rest of the royal household. However she never knew who gave her the flower.

_At age thirteen James spent the entire visit flirting with all the other young ladies at the court of Moldu, completely ignoring Lily. Not that she cared. _

"It's disgraceful." Petunia sniffed dismissively as the two sisters walked through one of the many gardens of the palace. "He is practically betrothed to you, yet he spends the entire visit paying compliments to those attention grabbing girls and speaks not a word to you."

"I do not mind." Lily lied. "Truthfully, I prefer it this way. Now I don't have to see his irritating, arrogant, ugly face every time I come out of my room."

"Who has an irritating, arrogant, ugly face?" the boy in question asked, coming round the corner just in time to hear Lily's last comment.

"Oh, just this really irksome boy I know." Lily replied. "He has been fortunate in his parentage and upbringing, and so feels he is able to do whatever he wishes. He believes himself to be good looking, and other girls fawn over him, but this is only because of his status."

"Sounds like a bit of an arse." James said, sending a roguish wink at Petunia when she gasped at his foul language.

"Yes. Yes he is." Lily agreed. "Now if that arse wouldn't mind getting out of our way, Petunia and I might enjoy our walk a little better for the lack of his company."

"Stupid, stuck up little prigs." James had muttered as he watched the two sisters walk away. "She's not even pretty. I can't believe I' have to marry her."

_At age fifteen James was completely startled by the young women who arrived at his palace. Where had the awkward, freckly, ginger haired girl gone? And when had she been replaced with the gorgeous red-head glaring at him in such a beautifully familiar manner. James decided he quite liked her glares. They lit up her emerald eyes so beautifully. The court of Magicien noted his change of feeling with interest. _

As James was of an age with Lily it had been decided that Lily would marry Prince James, and Petunia would be wed to Vernon, Duke of Grunnings. Neither girl was particularly happy about the outcome of the decision.

"_I _am the eldest!" Petunia exclaimed. "And yet _she_ is the one marrying a prince."

"I have to marry that fat-headed egotistical arsehole?" Lily had asked incredulously, causing Petunia to cease her ranting to reprimand her younger sister for her improper language.

"Petunia, I have every confidence you will be perfectly happy with Vernon." The girls' mother had assured them. "He is just the kind of man you have always dreamed of marrying." (when Petunia finally met Vernon she had to agree.)

"And Lily, you really must give up this ridiculous aversion you hold for poor Prince James. He utterly adores you, and you will both be making an extremely advantageous match."

"I don't care if he adores me. I hate him." Lily had replied petulantly.

"Do you not care about your kingdom at all?" her father had asked.

"Of course I care about the kingdom!" Lily had exclaimed. "But I don't see how marrying that pompous twat is going to help any."

_At age seventeen Lily began to wonder if perhaps she had judged the dashing young man paying her so much attention a little to harshly. He seemed so much more mature than she remembered him, and a lot more handsome. The court of Moldu did not notice her feelings however, as she stubbornly acted the same way to Prince James as she had every year since they were thirteen and she had subconsciously realised she was jealous of the other girls in the court. _

"Lily, are you really going to ignore me the whole time I'm here?"

"Yes." Lily replied shortly, not looking up from her book. James had cornered her in the library during her alone time, and she wasn't particularly happy about it.

"I'm here for a month!" James exclaimed.

"I've managed it every other year." Lily said snidely.

"Well I don't see why." James muttered in a childish voice that Lily couldn't help but find extremely cute. Not that she would ever admit it. "We are going to be married you know. It might help if we talked to each other for a bit before."

Lily put down her book and stood up to her full height, six inches shorter than James' six foot, so it unfortunately did not have much of an impact.

"I do not like you, I do not want to be with you and I will not marry you." She said staunchly as she moved to get past the man in front of her.

"Now Princess," James said with his best smile. "You can't tell me you don't find me at least a little appealing."

Lily paused in her attempt to walk past the other man and gave him an evaluating look.

"Well, I must say, your highness, I have always been slightly in awe of you." Lily confided flirtatiously, taking a step closer to James who, completely unused to this sort of behaviour from her, was rather taken aback.

"How- how so?" he asked, eyeing Lily warily.

Lily laughed and took another step closer, reaching out her hand to run it slowly up the front of James' doublet.

"Well," she began "it has always amazed me that you are able to get up out of bed each day, never mind walk through the narrower palace doors. What with the size and weight of your head, I would have thought both feats to be impossible." Shooting him a last, triumphant, look from under her eyelashes, Lily left the room, confident that, yet again, she had gained the upper hand.

_At age nineteen Lily never made it to the palace in Magicien. _

"Your Highness!" Percival, the fat Chamberlain of the palace burst through the doors to the private wing of the royal family, sweaty and out of breath.

"What on earth is wrong?" James asked, looking up from a chart of the Kingdom spread out on a large conference table. He was rather worried as he had never seen the man in front of him run in his entire nineteen years of life. It must be something pretty serious then.

"Has something happened to father? Has one of mother's experiments gone wrong again?"

The Queen of Magicien was, in a word, eccentric. On marrying James' father, King Charlus, she had commandeered one of the larger towers of the Palace for her "experiments", most of which were tested on herself or her stupidly willing husband.

"No." a completely out of breath Percival gasped as he hung onto the doorframe in an entirely undignified way he would have been horrified at had he not been trying to hard to breathe to think about it. "It- it's the P-princess Lily!"

"What about her?" James asked sharply, now even more worried than when he thought his mother might have turned his father's skin purple again.

"She hasn't arrived!" Percival said urgently. "And a few minutes ago one of her guards collapsed in the entrance hall, raving about some attack and a man who kidnapped the princess. However, before we could get any more information out of him he died. He was wounded badly and said it had taken him at least twenty minutes to reach us."

"Have you sent out a search party?" James asked quickly? "And called for my father?"

"Yes, an armed guard of twenty left as soon as the man reached the entrance to the Palace. Your father should be here shortly."

King Charlus entered the chamber only moments later, his skin, luckily, the same colour it was supposed to be.

"What has happened?" he demanded. As Percival repeated his story to the king, James quickly retrieved a detailed map of the forest surrounding the palace and began to plot the possible areas in which the attack could have taken place, and anywhere in the surrounding area the princess could have been taken to. Looking at the map James frowned in confusion. He couldn't see anywhere in the immediate vicinity that Lily could have been taken to. He said so to his father who, upon examining the map, concluded the same.

"I must send word to her parents." He told his son. "I want you to join the search party. You must try to find her."

"I was going to look for her anyway." James replied earnestly.

"James." the king said, halting his son as they left the chamber. "We must find her, not just because of your feelings, but to prevent the political backlash that could ensue if she does not return."

"What do you mean, father?" James asked.

"As you know, your marriage to Princess Lily was orchestrated to stop the long feud between our two kingdoms. Let's just say that Princess Lily going missing so close to our own palace does not look good for us. We must find her at all costs, or we may find the kingdom plunged into war yet again."

James made his way quickly to the stables, locating his horse, Prongs, immediately from the whickering noises he always made as soon as he sensed James' presence. Prongs was a jet black stallion, the magnificent battle horse the envy of every member of the court. His dam had been James' first horse. He'd cried like a baby when she had died.

"Hey boy." He said softly, stroking his hand along the horse's velvet nose. "You and I are going run like we've never run before." Prongs neighed in agreement, and stood placidly by as James saddled him swiftly and climbed up upon his back.

James remembered a story his father had told him as a child, about a horse that ran so quickly she lifted off from the earth and flew in the sky. Prongs had run just like that horse. Swift like the wind, his feet flying across the ground as if he wasn't even touching it. Obstacles such as trees were no problem for the horse and his rider, so in tune were they both with each other. They had quickly found the trail of the armed guard, noticing that though they were spread out at first, and their tracks began to close ranks until it was obvious they had all walked the same track in single file. It was by far the most exhilarating and the most frightening horse ride of his life, James thought as he finally caught up to the sounds of the guards who had been sent out earlier.

As James entered a clearing from which the echo of men, horses and the clinking of armour could be heard, the sight that met his eyes made his heart fall. No one could have survived this.

The charred remains of a carriage were littered on the forest floor along with the remnants of bones, both human and animal. The trees surrounding the glade bore the mark of the blast and, in his mind, James could almost see the force tearing apart the carriage. What sort of powers did the person responsible for this possess, and how could anyone be left alive? Yet a soldier had escaped, and he had said that Lily had been taken by the attacker, not killed. There was hope yet.

"Your Highness." One of the soldiers came up to him with a worried look on his face. "I am afraid we have been unable to find the Princess." There are no human tracks leading from this place that we can see. She and the attacker seem to have just disappeared."

James gazed at the scene around him in despair. How would he ever find her?

_Six months later_

"James, I'm sorry, but I do not think there is much point in continuing to look." King Charlus said sympathetically. He and his son were standing in the very same room they had received the news of Princess Lily's capture.

"I'm not giving up." James declared with determination.

"James, even her parents have accepted her fate. They hold no ill feelings towards us or our country."

"Is that all you care about?" James demanded, rounding on his father with an expression of barely hidden disgust. "How we look to Moldu and their rulers?"

"When you are king, James, you will understand." His father replied coldly. "The country must always come first."

"I'm going out hunting." James muttered, shouldering past his father.

"Don't be out too long." He called after him. "And take someone with you."

James ignored his request, walking to the stables alone and quickly saddling Prongs.

A stable hand ran up to him with his bow and sword. "When should we expect you back, Your Highness?" he enquired.

"I'm not sure," James replied, "I have no particular time in mind."

He bent over and whispered into Prong's ear, the horse galloping out of the stable at his command and through a side gate, out into the forest.

Prince James spent the whole day in the forest. It was early autumn, so the light of the sun remained well into the evening. He had stopped briefly to eat some of the food the stable hand had put into a pack for him and allow Prongs to drink from a nearby stream. By around nine o clock James had caught two pheasants, a large hare and had a nasty run in with a wild boar, luckily he came out the victor and was looking forward to showing off his catch to his friends. Wild boars were notoriously difficult to kill.

It was as he was placing his conquests into the packs at Prongs' side that James heard a noise from the trees behind him. Whirling round he scanned the space in front of him. There, standing in the dappled shade of a large willow, stood a startling white doe. James stared at the creature in fascination. He had never seen a deer as beautiful as this one. Two impulses warred within him; the first to kill the doe and take it back to show the rest of the castle, the second to let it run away, unharmed. As he approached the deer cautiously the second impulse won out, and James slowly lowered his bow. When James was within three foot of the animal, which still had not moved from her spot, he spoke softly, using the same tone he would employ to calm a startled horse.

"Hello." He said, feeling slightly stupid to be talking to a deer as if it could understand him. "You're a funny coloured doe. I have never seen anything like you before."

James surveyed the surrounding area. "I wonder where the rest of your herd is. Are they all the same colour as you?" James looked more closely at the creature, noticing that its eyes were as unusual as its pelt, a stunning dark green that reminded him of the forest. He took another step closer, reaching his hand out slowly. Suddenly the doe jerked her head, turning to look behind her as if she had heard some noise. The deer looked back at him once, before running off in the direction of the noise. James watched the white shape dance away through the trees contemplatively.

For the next three days James returned to the same spot in the forest, hoping to see the doe again. The remarkable tameness of the creature entranced him, and he wished to find it again. On his fourth visit he was rewarded with a glimpse of the animal once more. By this time it was nearing nightfall, and he knew he did not have long before he would have to return. However this time the doe did not seem content to stand still, instead turning to walk gracefully in the direction she had come from. When James did not follow the creature stopped and watched him, only continuing her passage when she saw that he followed. Again struck by the doe's unusual behaviour, James pursued the white animal with interest.

They journeyed through the forest for at least half an hour, the doe turning every so often to see if the man followed. Finally, when the sun had sunk well below the line of the trees and the forest was bathed in a darkness lessened only by the soft glow of the moon, the pair reached a glade with a deep pool in the centre.

James looked around him in wonder. He knew the forest like the back of his hand, the majority of his childhood had been spent there under the supervision of huntsmen and soldiers who, in turn, had learned the secrets of the wood from others in the past. However James was sure that he had never heard of a place like this before. The clearing had an eerily designed look to it; the pool in the middle was almost a perfect circle, the soft grass surrounding it almost too green. Huge trees bordered the glade, bluebells nodded gently at their bases in an invisible breeze and, as James watched the vista in front of him, the moon rose high enough that its reflection touched the surface of the still pool.

Out of the corner of his eye James saw the white doe, its colour so like that of the moon, walk towards the pool. As soon as all four of the creature's feet touched the water a strange thing began to happen. The wind in the clearing grew, blowing up leaves already falling from the trees. However the face of the lake remained still, the only ripples coming from the movements of the doe. As the moon's path took it into the centre of the pool the doe moved to stand in its reflection. Suddenly the light cast by the moon on the water rose to surround the white doe, cocooning her in a ball of illumination so strong James had to cover his eyes with an arm.

"James." A soft voice called and James, lowering his arm, could only stare in shock at the vision in the lake.

"Lily." He breathed.

And it was Lily, standing shivering in the pool in nothing but a thin white dress, already soaked up to the thigh by the water.

"Well don't just stand there looking at me." She snapped, breaking James out of his reverie. "Do you have anything to eat? I'm starving. I've been eating grass for six months."

"Lily." He said again, moving to help her out of the pool. "What happened?"

"Food first," she insisted "then I'll tell you what happened." James went over to his pack and pulled out a large blanket and some bread and fruit.

"I'm afraid this is all I have just now." He said, passing Lily the blanket which she accepted with a grateful thanks. The pair sat down on the grass by the pool, neither speaking as Lily ate all the food there and sighed contentedly.

"That's better. The only food I've had is the stuff that _he's _brought me, and I refuse to eat that."

"Lily," James began in a dangerous voice, "what happened, and who is _he_?"

Lily pulled the blanket more firmly around her and began to recount her story.

The party had been attacked on their way through the woods, she wasn't sure by what because all she could remember was one of her guards shouting at her to run and then she blacked out. When she woke up she was lying by the pool and appeared to have been turned into a deer. She had not attempted to find her way back, instead staying by the pool to see if anyone would come for her. This decision proved wise when, as soon as the sun set, a man appeared in the clearing, and told her to walk into the pool. Upon doing so Lily regained her human form.

"His name is Severus." She told James. "He seems to be some sort of sorcerer. He told me that the man he serves, the man he calls the 'Dark Lord' wishes me dead, but he can save me if I-" here she faltered, looking out over the pond and allowing herself a minute to collect her thoughts. "Each night he comes and asks me to marry him. Only then will he break the spell on me."

James made a strangled sound of rage. "Tell me you haven't agreed!"

"Of course not!" Lily retorted. "But I don't know what else I can do."

"Come with me now. Escape!" James said excitedly.

"I cannot." Lily explained. "during the day I am a deer. The only way I turn human again is if I am in the lake as the moon hits the water. Otherwise I must stay as a doe."

"Surely there must be some way to break the spell?" he asked.

"Severus said that when I agree to marry him the spell will en-" Lily stopped mid-sentence, her head turning as if she heard something, much like the first time James saw the doe.

"He's coming." She whispered. "He's calling for me. He'll be here soon."

"I'll kill him." James vowed, anger colouring his voice. "It'll be easy; I have the element of surprise."

"No! You must leave." Lily exclaimed. "You can't kill him."

"Why not?" James hissed, angry but trying to keep his voice down.

"Because…because he's not a bad person." Lily insisted.

James looked at her incredulously. "Not a bad person? He killed twenty people and kidnapped you, turning you into a deer and now is trying to force you to marry him."

"He- he's had a really bad life James. Things have happened to him that we just can't understand, our lives are so easy. I…I've been trying to help him, to persuade him that things don't have to be this way."

"You _like_ him." James realised, disgust evident in his voice. "Perhaps I was mistaken, perhaps you would rather stay here with your dangerous sorcerer, accept his offer of marriage after a little more protesting?"

Lily looked at James with fierce eyes, trying to ignore the tears threatening to escape them.

"I can't believe you would say that James. You have no idea what I've gone through this past half year, no idea. And the suggestion that I would want to continue to exist like this shows me that you are just as tactless as you were when we were children."

"Tactless?" James asked, totally losing his train of thought. "What do you mean tactless?"

"Oh don't tell me you don't know." Lily said. "When I spent the whole time crying because I was homesick and missed my family you just ignored me! And then the next time I see you you're flirting with every female in sight and don't speak more than a couple of words to me!"

"I didn't know what to do!" James shouted, before saying more quietly "I had never really been around girls much. I had no idea what to do with one who was crying! I thought that by giving you the flower you might be mor-"

"_You _were the one who gave me the flower?" Lily asked incredulously.

"You…you didn't realise?" James said, his anger disappearing as quickly as it had come on.

"No, I had no idea who gave it to me."

"So that's why you acted the same towards me." James breathed in realisation. "I thought you knew and just didn't care. That's why the next time I came to visit I ignored you. I thought you hated me."

"I haven't hated you since we were fifteen." Lily said, smiling slightly as she realised what utter idiots they had both be.

"I've loved you since we were fifteen." James responded.  
But Prince James never got to hear Lily's answer, for at that moment a voice came through the clearing.

"Lily! You know hiding never gets you anywhere. Come out and talk to me."

"Go!" Lily hissed. "Hide." With much reluctance James did as she said, moving himself and his horse into the shadows of the deep forest.

"There you are, Lily." The man James could only presume to be Severus said. Looking him up and down James couldn't say he was particularly impressed. His nose was a little too hooked for classic good looks, and his _hair._ Not to say that James' himself was perfect in that department, but at least his didn't look like he'd been dipped in a vat of oil at birth.

"Hello Severus." Lily said quietly. The man walked over to her, reaching out to twist a tendon of hair round his finger.

"You are so beautiful in this form." He told Lily, staring at her in a way that had James itching to punch him in his overly large nose.

"It's such a shame you have to spend the day as a doe. But that could all change, Lily. With just one word you could be free forever."

"But Severus," Lily pleaded "don't you see? If I stay with you I will not be free. I will always be by your side under duress, not of my own will. Please let me go!"

Severus looked at her; pity and compassion filled his strange black eyes. "Lily, with me you are safe. With me no-one can harm you. I will give you anything you want, keep you safe. There is no better freedom then that." Lily gave a strangled scream and strode to the bank of the pool, turning her back on both men.

Once her emotions were under control she turned back to face her captor, head held high, every inch a member of the royal family.

"Listen well Severus, no matter what you do, no matter how much you beg, I will never marry you. I will never love you, and therefore cannot bring myself to tie my soul to yours."

Severus began to laugh, his dark amusement echoing round the clearing.

"I suppose you love that stuck up prince?" he asked. "The one who's hiding in the trees over there."

James showed himself immediately, not wanting to stay hiding in the shadows now that he had a chance to confront the man.

"Yes." Lily said softly, her eyes locking with James' own as she spoke. "I do love him."

"Such a shame I'm going to have to kill him then." Severus said pleasantly, and the next minute James felt ghostly hands pick him up, plunging him down into the lake in the middle of the clearing.

The water was cold. The first icy touch on his skin pushed all the air from James' lungs, leaving him gasping in water as he felt his head held under. Just as James felt his strength failing he caught a glimpse of silver from the bottom of the pool. Pulling a last surge of power from the deepest part of himself, James swam down towards the glimmering shape, somehow knowing it would help him. James' hand closed over cool metal, his feet hit the bottom of the lake and he kicked off the surface, breaking out through the water and gasping air into his burning lungs.

"Take the spell off Lily and let us go." James demanded, pointing the sword he now held in his hands at Severus, who looked at him in surprise.

"Well, that's rather interesting." He said, almost to himself. "The Dark Lord himself has tried to retrieve that sword from the pool, yet you managed what he could not."

"I do not care about your Dark Lord." James hissed, moving so the tip of the sword was pressed up against Severus' neck. "Take the spell off her."

Suddenly James felt the ghostly hands once again, constricting round his throat. He slid the sword along the other man's neck. A thin line of blood followed the blade's path.  
"James! Severus, please don't kill him!" Lily called. "Both of you, it doesn't have to be this way."

"Why not?" Severus asked, a slightly manic edge to his voice. "Why not just let him kill me? Then you would be free."

"Because I do not want either of you to have another's blood on your hands." Lily implored. Both men turned to look at her, saw the pain in her eyes as she watched them fight.

"I won't kill him." James said, pulling back a little as he felt the contracting force leave his neck. "However he must take the spell off you."

Severus looked James up and down before turning his gaze to Lily. "I cannot undo it. Only true love's first kiss can break the spell. I had hoped that…in time, you and I…but I suppose it was not to be."

He turned a hard look on James. "If you truly love her, and she truly loves you, there should be no problem in breaking the spell."

James nodded once, before moving over to Lily to lead her out of the glade. However Lily would not leave immediately.

"Severus…?" Lily said, looking at the dark shape of the man silhouetted against the silver pool.

Severus gazed at the girl he had stolen; at the girl he loved. "Go." He said softly. "Leave, you are free to go."

This time when James pulled her Lily allowed herself to be led, never once looking back at the man by the lake.

"Did you mean what you said?" James asked as they journeyed back through the forest, Lily on Prongs whilst he led the horse.

"What I said about what?" asked Lily.

"When you said you loved me." James replied.

"Stop the horse a minute." Lily requested. James did as he was asked and watched as Lily slid down the horse and turned to face him.

"I meant every word." She said softly, reaching up to frame James' face in her hands and standing on tip-toe to kiss his mouth. Just as when Lily had changed from the doe back to a human, when the prince and princess kissed they felt the wind whipping round them, stirring up leaves and the balmy scent of the forest after summer.

"I think I'm supposed to kiss you." James whispered.

"Why is that?" Lily asked.

"Because I'm the boy, it's conventional. And it's more romantic that way."

"I've never really been one for convention." Lily replied, a smile touching the corners of her mouth and eyes. "But I'm sure you already know that. Or at least you will when you marry me."

James groaned. "Now you just proposed to me. Must you do everything woman!"

"Well if I waited for you to get round to it we'd never do anything." Lily laughed. James decided that if he were to gain the upper hand the best way to do so would be to shut Lily up, and did so with another kiss.

_A week later.  
_The king and queen of Moldu were overjoyed to find their daughter alive and well. A great feast was held in celebration of her return, however even that paled in comparison to the five day festival held in both countries for Prince James and Princess Lily's wedding. Eventually James and Lily became king and queen, and had a wonderful little boy who they named Harry.

And they all lived happily ever after.

The End.

* * *

"James?" a soft voice called from the doorway. "What kind of a story have you been telling Harry tonight?" James smiled up at his wife who was looking at him in suspicion.

"A fairy tale." He replied innocently.

"You didn't make it too scary, did you?" Lily asked suspiciously. It was not unusual for her to come upstairs to find her child being subjected to stories about the monsters in the forbidden forest or particularly life threatening Quidditch moves his father had pulled off.

James thought guiltily about some of the descriptions in his story, but decided Harry was too young to appreciate most of them, so he should be fine.

"Of course not, dear." He said, standing up and walking over to give his wife a kiss. "Now I don't know about you, but I am exhausted. And Sirius and Remus are coming over tomorrow, so I will have my hands full entertaining the former. I for one am thinking an early night is needed.

"Perhaps you could tell me the story?" Lily suggested.

"Perhaps I will." James agreed. "Another night."

* * *

**A/N – I hope no Snape fans take offence at me making him the villain. I love Snape, but James is the one telling the story and in the film I'm basing this on the guy who kidnaps the princess does try to get her to marry him. Snape seemed to fit the character better than Voldemort. **

**Please review! Tell me what you think of the whole idea, should I continue? I have the second bedtime story mostly written; it's a little bit more humorous and involves the other marauders. **


	2. Little Red Lily Hood

**A/N – This is the second bedtime stories told to Harry. If you haven't read the first it doesn't particularly matter, they have little connection. **

**Please review. No-one has yet. I'll probably not bother continuing if no-one does, as I'll just assume nobody likes it.**

**Warning – Mentions of slash pairings. Disturbing mental images of Sirius as a granny. **

**Disclaimer – I own nothing. **

Little Red Lily Hood

"_What kind of title is that Prongs?"_

"_What? It worked in my head."_

"_Nothing works in your head."_

"_Hey!"_

"_Let James get on with the story, Sirius."_

"…"

Once there was a dear little child,

Who was loved by all who looked on her.

One day she was sent out into the wild,

To give granny the cake mum had cooked for her.

"Your grandmother's ill, Little Red Lily Hood,

So take these to her and some wood for the heater.

A cake and some wine will do her some good,"

Said the rather rotund woman named Mrs. Peter.

"_It's a good thing Pete's not here or else he would be rather displeased."_

"_Where is Peter anyway? I haven't seen him in weeks."_

"_Who cares about Peter? Can I be in the story too?"_

"_Everyone will be in the story Padfoot."_

So through the forest she skipped and she ran,

With her red velvet cape wrapped around her.

Unknowing that close was a wolf with a plan,

A wide grin on the face of the...

"_Remus, what rhymes with 'around her' that fits with the sentence?"_

"_Bounder."_

"_Perfect!"_

A wide grin on the face of the bounder.

Now our Little Red had no idea

That a wolf was something she was meant to fear

So even as he was fast drawing near

She thought the sound came from a fat stupid deer.

"_Sirius! Don't ruin the story…and I'm not fat!"_

Little Red could hear, but the dark impeded her eyes

But as the figure emerged she looked on in surprise.

"Remus, the wolf? I would never have guessed it."

So clearly she'd never seen Remus bare-chested.

"_**Sirius**! Quit butting in with inappropriate comments! And Remus stop laughing, you're a horrible wolf who will be killed in the end."_

"_How could you do that to my Moony?"_

"Hello Mr. Wolf" unsuspecting Red said.

"I'm off to my Gran's with this wine and some bread.

She lives not far off, a quarter-league through the woods

I'm afraid I must go and deliver her goods."

The wolf watched the girl go with a smile and a plan.

"What a treat, such a tender young creature."

If he was fast he'd get her and her Gran,

And then Little Red, well, he'd eat her.

As through the forest the wolf swiftly ran,

Hoping to beat Little Red to her Gran,

One thought alone circled round in his head,

That thought: how superb Sirius was in bed.

"_Moony, shut him up please."_

"…"

"_Not like _that_!"_

And so in the guise of our Little Red,

The wolf entered the house without word.

And, reaching Gran lying sick in her bed,

Proceeded to stuff her in the cupboard.

When Little Red arrived she spotted her Gran

But couldn't quite place what was altered.

So she walked closer, a foot, or less than,

But looked at the woman and faltered.

"Why Granny," our Little Red said in fear,

"What awfully big ears you possess!"

"All the better with which to hear,

Though my hair is quite often a mess."

"Why Granny," Little Red said in surprise,

"I am positively sure you are changed!

Allow me to ask, just how big are your eyes?

Or am I simply becoming deranged?"

"And it's not just your eyes which have altered, I fear.

Why, how large are those teeth in your jaw?"

The wolf smiled "All the better to eat you my dear."

The wolf cried as he swiped with his paw.

But just then through the door burst a glorious shape,

The woodcutter had heard a commotion.

And so the brave man (better looking than Snape)

Caught the wolf in really cool slow motion.

"_Why is Remus the bad guy here? You're telling the story all wrong James. Do you want Harry to grow up thinking that Moony is a bad person?"_

"_I'm just telling the story as it goes Sirius. There is a wolf and the woodcutter kills him!"_

"_But why does Remus have to be the wolf?"_

"_Because he's a sodding werewolf Sirius!"_

"_**Racist!**"_

"_How is that being racist?"_

"_That's it, I'm hijacking the story."_

"_Oh no you're mmph!"_

But just as the woodcutter's puny axe fell,

Granny burst out of the cupboard.

And everyone stared, because -as far as they could tell-

Granny had always been a woman.

"_Sirius, that last bit didn't even rhyme."_

"_**You **try to find something which rhymes with cupboard." _

"_James managed earlier. Now, Padfoot, let go of his head and let him finish the story."_

"_But I'm doing it so much better."_

But who stood there now was a dashing young man

With lustrous black hair, perfect teeth and a tan.

Better looking than the woodcutter, that much was plain,

But all there were confused, and so asked the God's name.

"_Sirius, he's turning purple."_

"My name is unimportant,

So I shall simply say

That I am not your granny

She has long gone away.

Now I hope you do not mind,

If I take this wolf, so make way,

For I am shocked at this animal cruelty

And will call the RSPCA."

"_I feel I must congratulate you on your excellent desecration of what little form and rhyme scheme this story had Padfoot."_

"_Shush, Moony. I'm changing it to a story about us. We don't need forms and rhyme schemes."_

The other humans realised how wrong they'd been, as the wolf explained how he,

Was the victim of a heinous plot, from which he could not break free.

But all was forgiven by Little Red because, just like the others, she found Remus too sexy.

"_Mmph!"_

"_Ah, good. Thank you Remus. I'm just surprised you didn't do that earlier."_

"_That's because before his storytelling was only slightly worse than yours. That last stanza was so atrocious I think poets and linguists all over the country are turning in their graves. And the sad thing is that this isn't even a punishment for him. I think he rather enjoys it when I exercise my dominance over him."_

"_That was way too much information Remus." _

"_Sorry."_

And so the odd group decided to be friends.

Even the woodcutter and wolf made amends.

And whilst the wolf (who is hopefully not actually a wolf physically) and the fake granny (who is now apparently young, male and into the wolf) seemed to hit it off just so,

The woodcutter and Little Red decided to give it a go.

"_I sincerely hope by 'give it a go' you mean something that wouldn't get the 'woodcutter' imprisoned for child abuse."_

"_Lily! How long have you been here?" _

"_Long enough to hear about your…'glorious shape' was it?"_

"_Hah, I knew she wouldn't buy it, even as story Lily."_

"_You're one to talk. And at least when I was telling the story it had some sort of plot. You just kept taking over and ruining the whole thing. What is Harry going to think now?"_

"_You let Sirius take over the story more than once?"_

"_Now Lily, there's no need to get that angry…"_

"_My son has been brainwashed by a flea-bitten mongrel with nothing in his brain but food, sleep and a delusional werewolf!"_

"_Hey!"_

"_His poor innocent mind!"_

"_Not so innocent anymore, mwah hah hah!"_

"_Sirius Black! You get back here this minute so I can kick your tail up through your ass!"_

"_How come you get to swear around the baby and I don't?"_

"_James, let go of me! I can't strangle Sirius if you're holding onto my waist."_

"_How come Sirius gets to bounce on the couch? You won't even let Remus do that."_

"_Hi Harry, I'm just going to take you up to bed whilst the other children fight. Then perhaps I'll continue the story with a little more finesse and appreciation for the proper technical workings of a narrative such as the one your incompetent father and godfather were trying to tell…there. You just lie down and let Moony fix the story for you."_

And as the three humans did bicker and brawl,

The wolf bid a hasty retreat, as was wise.

Though in time, maybe they could all count as allies,

The wolf's doubt caused a caution perpetual.

But just as the wolf reached the low garden wall,

His foot caught a stone which the grass had disguised.

And as from its grip his foot he tried to prize,

Into a well he tripped and proceeded to fall.

But as the wolf fell from the top he could see,

Three worried faces who watched his descent,

Before one, then the others jumped in without fright,

Trailing the wolf, to wherever it may be,

That his long fall would take him. Yet he was content,

To find out the answer tomorrow night.

"_A sonnet Moony. You just had to show us all up by going all literary didn't you?"_

"_Well it worked didn't it? Harry's asleep, and now you've got all of tomorrow to work out your new story."_

"_What story?"_

"'_Lily in Wonderland'"_

"_Why am I always the centre of these stories?" _

"_Because James is predominantly the one who tells them."_

"_I just butt in to annoy him."_

"_Also because most fairy tails are about girls."_

"_I am so glad you weren't here last night. You would have completely ruined my fairy tale about Lily and I."_

"_Waaaaaaaa!" _

"_Look at what you've done! You've woken Harry up again."_

"_That's it. All of you out! **I** will get him to sleep."_

"_Sorry Lily."_

"_Sorry Evans."_

"_Sorry Love."_

"…"

"_Never send more than one man to do a job. It will inevitably go wrong. I hope you end up with a little more common sense Harry. I'm sure you would never do something as stupid as jumping down a hole when you don't know what's at the bottom."_

**Ten Years Later…**

And Harry let go. Cold, damp air rushed past him as he fell down, down,down…

**Eleven Years Later…**

He lowered himself slowly into the pipe, then let go…

**Twelve Years Later…**

Harry went next; he crawled forwards, headfirst, and slid down an earthy slope…

* * *

**A/N 2 – Anyone notice how often Harry has to climb down some sort of hole to save everybody?**

**Please tell me what you think. Did you like it, did you hate it? Do you think it's a waste of time and space? Should I continue? Does anyone care? Is there life after death? Are we alone in the universe?  
Constructive criticism and praise are welcome. A philosophical discussion about the universe not so much.  
**


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